Forza Motorsport 3 Guide Think you're a master of racing games because you've burned out on your need for speed? Now that you've done racing ridges, it's time to step up to a real racing challenge. Powersliding and smashing into walls may look good for the camera, but when it comes to legit road racing it's a recipe for looking stupid. And slow. Success in Forza Motorsport 3 requires an intimate knowledge of driving physics and racing theory. A healthy dose of knowledge on tuning and upgrading your car helps, too, so we've compiled all of our racing wisdom for your examination. Study the tips inside. Put them to practice. We promise, your lap times will drop like Colin Moriarty's oversized, beltless jeans. In this Forza Motorsport 3 strategy guide, you'll find: DRIVING 101 // An in-depth breakdown of the finer details of proper racing technique. TUNING & UPGRADES // A layman's explanation of the various tuning options with tips for perfecting your car's performance. CAREER MODE // Strategies and tips for completing the game's daunting career mode. CAR LIST // A complete list of the game's myriad cars, sortable for easy viewing. Q & A // Your chance to ask us questions (and hopefully get an informed answer). Guide by: Mark Ryan Sallee © 2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. May not be sold, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, in whole or part, without IGN’s express permission. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. All rights reserved. © 2009 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 1 Forza Motorsport 3 Driving 101 Braking & Cornering Weight Transfer Drivetrain Types General Tips Acceleration Technique Real racing is a very complicated affair, but it boils down to three basic essentials: braking, accelerating, and cornering. Consider this a lesson in Driving 101. Braking If you think braking is as simple as mashing the brake button (or brake pedal), it's time to snap to reality. Braking is as important, if not more so, than accelerating when it comes to realistic, technical racing. Poor braking can dramatically affect your lap times. Proper braking technique, conversely, will set you up to swing through corners drama-free and ready to peg the accelerator at the soonest moment possible. As a general rule, combining braking inputs with steering inputs will result in oversteer, often to catastrophic effect. In simpler terms, don't brake while turning . Braking is much more effective when done in a straight line, scrubbing off speed much faster than braking while turning. If you try braking during a hard corner, you'll effectively divide the potential grip of your tires between turning and braking. This division of grip results in both poor turning and poor braking. If you're braking during a turn, you've waited far too long before using the brakes. Since you undoubtedly need to drive through turns slower than the straights that precede turns, treat braking as a necessary preparation for turning. As you approach a turn—well before entering the actual corner—apply the brakes while making as few steering wheel corrections as necessary. If you time your braking properly, you'll have slowed down enough that you can ease through the corner without further need of the brakes. © 2009 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 2 Acceleration Much like braking, acceleration doesn't often mix well with cornering. The effect of acceleration on cornering is highly dependent on your vehicle's drivetrain (see our Drivetrain Types section for more details), but the general rule is the same. By accelerating during a turn, you effectively divide the potential grip of your tires between two functions, acceleration and turning. In some cars, this results in understeer, during which the turning potential of the car is compromised, and instead of turning as sharply as possible the car will push toward the outside of the turn. In other vehicles, oversteer is induced, during which the tail end of the car swings out, making the vehicle more difficult to control in the turn and crippling acceleration potential. That said, there are very few times when you can use the accelerator without touching the steering. The lesson here is not that you should never steer and accelerate at the same time, but rather that you need to understand the effects of combining the two actions. The real lesson here is to practice moderation . If you're deep into a turn with the steering cranked to the extreme, pegging the accelerator is only going to ruin your turn. It may not be obvious in theory, but think of the opposite action: If you're running pedal-to-the-metal down a long straight, cranking the steering wheel left or right is going to severely wreck your acceleration (and probably more). How you moderate your acceleration should be directly related to how hard you're steering. Through a slight right bend, you can ease the steering a little right without stepping off the accelerator. If, however, you've just slowed down for a sharp hairpin, you'll want to only feather the accelerator as you crank the steering to maintain the modest speed you've set up for the corner. After you've navigated a turn and pointed the car straight, center the steering and nail the gas to get out of the corner. In a perfect racing line, it's okay if your acceleration out of the turn results in minor understeer that pulls the car away from the apex and to the outside of the corner. Use the full width of the course to keep the straightest line possible when accelerating out of a bend. Braking & Cornering Weight Transfer Drivetrain Types General Tips Acceleration Technique Turning Now that you've got a basic understanding of the effects of braking and acceleration on your ability to turn the car, it's time to understand a key principle to cornering: Slow in, fast out . © 2009 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 3 The gist of the principle applies to every corner you take. Exiting the corner at the highest possible speed is the ultimate goal of every turn. If you're fast out of a corner, you'll carry that speed into the following straight. But in order to exit a corner at the highest possible speed, it's necessary to enter the corner slowly. As we explained earlier, before entering a corner, you want to apply the brakes as you approach your turn. From inside the corner, feather the throttle lightly, just enough to maintain a constant, low speed. Turn into the corner and aim the car for the corner's apex (more on this later). Once you've made it through the meat of the turn, center the steering and nail the accelerator to get out of the corner as fast as possible. When approaching a corner, you typically want to brake along the outside edge of the turn. Doing so will allow you to cut a gradual turn toward the apex. If you come into a corner from the inside of the track, you'll effectively reduce the radius of the turn, resulting in a loss of speed through the corner (and out of it). A more gradual turn radius, started from the outside of the track, will allow you to maintain a higher speed while adhering to your racing line. The apex of the turn is the point in your racing line that comes closest to the inside of the turn. Typically this is where you transition from turning to straightening the car for acceleration out of the corner. Visualizing the proper apex will give you an idea of what your racing line should look like through a particular corner. After hitting the apex on the inside of the turn, let your acceleration pull the car back toward the outside of the turn. Use the full width of the course to cut as straight a path as possible as you exit the corner. Staying straight as possible will let you accelerate more effectively, adhering to the original mantra: Slow in, fast out . © 2009 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 4 Braking & Cornering Weight Transfer Drivetrain Types General Tips Acceleration Technique Weight Transfer Now that you've got a basic understanding of proper driving technique, it's time to look a bit more in-depth into the physical mechanics at play in high-speed racing. Weight distribution and weight transfer concern the effects of weight balance on the handling dynamics of your vehicle. These dynamics are always changing as you race, as everything you do affects the distribution of weight in your vehicle. When the vehicle is at a complete stop, its weight balance is at its most neutral. A perfectly balanced car will have a 50/50 weight balance, with half of the car's weight pushing down on the front wheels and the other half of the weight holding down the rear wheels. While only a few cars actually achieve a perfect weight balance, this general idea applies. Naturally, the weight balance of a non-moving car is instantly changed the moment the vehicle kicks into motion. Upon acceleration, the weight balance is shifted backward . As the car lunges forward, the front end of the vehicle lifts while the tail end of the vehicle dips down. This shift in the weight balance dramatically affects the grip of the tires. Under hard acceleration, the front tires lose grip while the rear tires gain traction from the added weight. As acceleration slows, weight balance gradually returns to a more neutral state.